Language in TOK

• Language is:– Rule-governed– Intended– Creative and open

ended

• English, Arabic, Chinese….

Body Language; mathematical formulas

Body Language; mathematical formulas

The origin of our languages

Language family Major language Location

Indo-European English Americas, Europe, SW Asia, Australia, South Africa

Sino-Tibetan Chinese China, SE Asia

Japanese-Korean Japanese Japan, Korea

Afro-Asiatic Arabic North Africa, Arabian Peninsula

Dravidian Telugu India

Malay-Polynesian Indonesian Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Madagascar

Altaic Turkish Russia, Finland, Turkey, Northern Asia

Niger-Congo Bantu Sub-Saharan Africa

Indo-European language diffusion

5,000/10,000 B.C.5,000/10,000 B.C.

The indo-european language family

Language and knowledge

Language Knowledge

Think of today. As you go through it, how do you use language (or having it used on you)? What kinds of knowledge, if any, are gained or given in each way that language is used?

What is the role for knowledge for social greeting and chat? Word of politeness? Commands? Emotional expression?Joking? Representational, informative language in reports or some classes?

Language and knowledge

Knowledge issues of language

• Language and identity• Problems of translation • Problems of meaning• Language and truth• Language and the WOK: sense

perception and emotion• Language used to deliberately deceive

and manipulate people (propaganda)

Language and identity

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0n4Vw6twKo

• Language is an essential part of what defines a culture or civilization

• An individual has a linguistic identity: identification with a language and its speakers

Language and identity

• Continental and insular Scandinavian: Swedish, Danish, Swedish vs Icelandic and Faroese: political and linguistic identity merge

• Hindi vs Urdu

Lost in translation

• Guten Tag (German --> English)• S’il vous plait (French --> English)• How do you do (English --> Any language)

Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead!

Lost in translation

• ‘The lift is being fixed for the next day. During that time we regret you will be unbearable’ (Romanian Hotel)

• ‘Ladies may have a fit upstairs’ (Hong-Kong tailor shop)

• ‘Ladies, leave your clothes here and spend the afternoon having a good time’ (Italian laundry)

Language and meaning

• Define as precisely as you can the following three words:

• A. Triangle• B. Table• C. Love

• Triangle: three straight lines that define an area

• Table: a piece of furniture with a flat top and one or more legs, providing a level surface for eating, working etc

Language and meaning

- Try and explain to a blind person what the word ‘red’ means

Problematic meaning

• Ambiguity: vagueness, secondary meaning, metaphor and irony

Language and truth• You have a strong need for other people to like you and for

them to admire you. At times you are extroverted, affable, and sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, and reserved. You have a great deal of unused energy which you have not turned to your advantage. While you have some personality weakness, you are generally able to compensate for them. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations. You pride yourself of being an independent thinker and do not accept other opinions without satisfactory proof. You have a tendency of being critical with yourself. Some of your aspirations tend to be pretty unrealistic.

Language and knowledge

LanguageSense perception

Emotion

Language reflects and shapes sense perception and emotion

Denotative and connotative language

• Factual, denotative: refers to the literal, primary meaning of something

• Emotional, connotative: implies or suggests (an idea or a feeling) in addition to the literal, primary meaning

Connotative language

Connotative language

• ‘Misunderstanding of words have produced tragedies in both war and peace, in both business and non business situations’

Language and values

• Is John a good storyteller or a liar?

• Is Maurice a fluent conversationalist or a wind-bag?

• Do you see Melissa as self confident or arrogant?

• Is Paul’s refusal to show emotion a sign of inner strength or insensivity?

• When we gossip, we negotiate with one another about how to describe people

Which of these competing descriptions you settle on is likely to affect the way you think about the person in question.

Which of these competing descriptions you settle on is likely to affect the way you think about the person in question.

Language and communication

• Language can be used to influence and persuade through: emotionally laden language, weasel words, revealing and concealing

• Terrorist/freedom fighter

• Pro life/Pro choice• Genetically modified

food/Frankestein food

• US Department of war/of Defense

Language and communication

Warspeak Real meaning

Security assistance

Neutralise

No longer a factor

Take out

Pacification

Collateral damage

Liberate

Pre-emptive

Ethnic cleansing

Arms sales

Kill

Dead

Destroy

Bombing

Bombed cities

Invade

Unprovoked

Genocide

Neuro linguistic programming (NLP)

• NLP (California,1970s) developed by an information scientist and a linguist

• People with similar education, training, background and years of experience were achieving widely varying results ranging from wonderful to mediocre.They wanted to know the secrets of effective people.

Neuro linguistic programming (NLP)

• Possibility of being able to duplicate the behavior, and therefore the competence, of these highly effective individuals.

• They studied how the successful people communicated (verbal language, body language, eye movements, and others).

Neuro linguistic programming (NLP)

• By modeling their behavior, they were able to make out patterns of thinking that assisted in the subject's success.

• They theorized that the brain can learn the healthy patterns and behaviors.

• The words we use reflect an inner, subconscious perception of our problems. If these words and perceptions are inaccurate, they will create an underlying problem as long as we continue to use and to think them. Our attitudes are, in a sense, a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

Language and knowledge

• The role of language in methods that lead to knowledge: interviews, questionnaires, reports…

• The role of language in the justification of knowledge: historical documents and archives, public reports contributing to a growing field, conclusions able to be (re)tested….

Conclusions

• ‘If you can’t say it then you don’t know it’ (H. Reichenbach, 1891-1953)

• ‘I know more than I can say’ (M. Polanyi,1891-1976)

Sources

• http://teacherweb.ftl.pinecrest.edu/snyderd/MWH/readings/3/3%20-%20Language.pdf

• http://www.holisticonline.com/hol_neurolinguistic.htm

• Lagemaat R. (2005), Theory of Knowledge for the IB diploma